The Great Eastern Mainline Taskforce has welcomed the news that the first ‘Norwich in 90’ and ‘Ipswich in 60’ services will begin in May.
Rail passengers in East Anglia can expect some major improvements this spring, including Norwich to London in 90 minutes and thousands of extra seats for the summer. Four extra services between Norwich, Ipswich and London Liverpool Street will speed up travel between East Anglia and the capital.
Fastest journey times between Norwich and London will be cut to just 90 minutes and it will take just 55-57 minutes to travel between Ipswich and London on these extra four services a day. There will also be extra summer services provided across the Greater Anglia network, to help locals, visitors and holiday-makers make the most of all that East Anglia has to offer.
Rt. Hon Priti Patel MP, Chair of the GEML Rail Taskforce, said: “This is great news for the thousands of people who are using the train line daily. Reducing journey times between Norwich and London is vital for businesses and people’s experience. This is another success that we have all achieved by working together and we are already planning ahead and working on the key priorities for further infrastructure improvements to help deliver on our growth ambitions. Commuters deserve to benefit from a high-performing railway and this announcement takes us a small step closer towards getting there. We will continue to press for more capacity and services so passenger from all stations on the line can benefit and also for faster peak time services.”
“Led by New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, we started our campaign in 2014 with the backing of more than 100 major businesses, councils and local groups. The 1.5bn railway investment that has been secured will make a great difference, but there is still a long way to go before our railways are fit for our growing economy.”
Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: “We’re very excited to be making these improvements from the start of our May timetable. For many years, stakeholders, including MPs and businesses, have been calling for faster journey times between East Anglia and London and now we’re launching the first quicker services with our new May timetable.
“Faster journey times and thousands of extra seats will provide a boost to people who live and work in East Anglia, as well as supporting the regional economy. These improvements will be followed in the summer by the first of our brand-new trains coming into service, so it really is going to be a great year for Greater Anglia customers.”
The first faster services between Norwich, Ipswich and London Liverpool Street are due to come into service on Monday 20 May. The 90-minute services will depart Norwich at 09.00 and 17.00 (calling at Ipswich at 09.33 and 17.33) and London Liverpool Street at 11.00 and 19.00 (calling at Ipswich at 11.55 and 19.57) and will operate on Mondays to Saturdays. They will shave 12 minutes off the current fastest journey between Norwich and London and cut the fastest journey between Ipswich and London by 4 minutes.
